TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit): Meaning, Math, Container Fits
A TEU is the standard container unit: one 20-ft ISO box equals 1 TEU, a 40-ft equals 2 TEU. Includes vessel capacity math and payload examples.
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Open calculatorTEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit)
TEU is the atomic measurement unit for containerised freight. One TEU equals one standard 20-ft ISO container. A 40-ft container is 2 TEU. Container ships, port terminals, and freight-rate quotes all denominate capacity in TEU.
Why the industry uses TEU instead of container count
Ocean shipping standardised on the 20-ft ISO box in the 1960s (ISO 668) and the 40-ft variant became dominant for dry cargo in the 1980s. Rather than track both, the industry adopted TEU as a normalising unit: a vessel carrying 100 twenty-ft boxes and 200 forty-ft boxes has a 500 TEU load, and its capacity plan works the same whether the mix shifts.
Standard container conversions
| Container type | Length | TEU count | Max gross (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard 20-ft dry | 20 ft | 1 | 30,480 |
| Standard 40-ft dry | 40 ft | 2 | 32,500 |
| 40-ft high-cube | 40 ft | 2 | 32,500 |
| 45-ft high-cube | 45 ft | 2 | 32,500 |
| 20-ft reefer | 20 ft | 1 | 30,480 |
| 40-ft reefer | 40 ft | 2 | 34,000 |
| 20-ft flat rack | 20 ft | 1 | 34,000 |
| 20-ft tank | 20 ft | 1 | 30,480 |
The 45-ft high-cube is the mild counter-example: it counts as 2 TEU on vessel slot plans but carries about 12 percent more cubic capacity than a 40-ft high-cube. Charterers often prefer 45-ft for high-cube light-density cargo (apparel, foam, furniture) because the per-TEU freight rate is the same but you get more cube.
TEU capacity of common vessel classes
- Feedermax: 1,000 to 3,000 TEU. Serves regional lanes and transships to hubs.
- Panamax (old locks): 4,000 to 5,100 TEU. Squeezed out by Neo-Panamax after 2016.
- Neo-Panamax: 10,000 to 14,000 TEU. Sized for expanded Panama Canal locks.
- New Panamax to Post-Panamax: 8,000 to 12,500 TEU.
- Ultra-Large Container Vessel (ULCV): 18,000 to 24,000 TEU. Asia-Europe and Trans-Pacific dominant.
TEU in landed cost math
Ocean freight allocated to unit cost, worked example:
- Shipment: 40-ft high-cube (2 TEU) from Shanghai to Los Angeles
- All-in ocean rate: 3,200 USD per 40 ft (1,600 USD per TEU)
- Units per container: 5,000 units of a 0.15 CBM consumer product
- Freight per unit: 3,200 / 5,000 = 0.64 USD per unit
Compare to a 45-ft high-cube with 5,600 units at the same TEU rate: 3,200 / 5,600 = 0.57 USD per unit. Use the LandedFees calculator to feed TEU-level freight into the total landed cost, alongside duty, MPF, HMF, and insurance.
Related terms
- Twenty-foot vs. Forty-foot Equivalent (FEU): FEU = 2 TEU, used in North American and Latin American statistics.
- Container Freight Station (CFS): the LCL consolidation point where freight is stuffed or stripped from a shared TEU.
Primary sources
- ISO 668:2020 Series 1 Freight Containers: iso.org
- WCO Container Nomenclature: wcoomd.org
- Alphaliner monthly TEU capacity report: alphaliner.axsmarine.com
Frequently asked questions
How many TEU is a 40-ft container?
A 40-ft ISO container equals 2 TEU. A 45-ft high-cube is still counted as 2 TEU for slot-charter purposes even though it holds more cubic volume, because container-slot allocation on vessels is length-based, not volume-based.
How many TEU does a modern container ship carry?
Ultra-Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) launched since 2019 carry 22,000 to 24,000 TEU. A typical Neo-Panamax vessel carries about 14,000 TEU. Regional feeders run 1,000 to 3,000 TEU. Slot-charter rates are always quoted per TEU per voyage.
What is the maximum weight for a 1-TEU container?
The ISO 668 maximum gross weight for a standard 20-ft dry container is 30,480 kg (67,200 lb). Payload is roughly 28,200 kg after subtracting the tare weight. Actual payload depends on the shipping line's Verified Gross Mass (VGM) limits and the destination port's road-weight rules.
Is TEU used for anything other than ocean freight?
Yes. Port throughput statistics (Long Beach, Rotterdam, Shanghai) are all reported in TEU. Rail intermodal capacity in North America is quoted in TEU. Warehouse yard capacity, terminal stacking plans, and vessel-sharing agreements all use TEU as the atomic unit.
How does TEU relate to landed cost?
Ocean-freight cost per unit is usually calculated as: (all-in TEU rate) divided by (units per container). A 40-ft container carrying 5,000 units of a lightweight consumer good at a 3,000 USD all-in rate lands the freight allocation at 0.60 USD per unit. Container utilisation is the highest-leverage variable in landed cost after tariff rate.
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